Archive for the ‘Jesse Jackson’ Category

We are told here at Peace and Freedom that the President-elect considered a broad spectrum of pastors to come to Washington to assist in the invocation of God at the inauguration in January….

The Reverend Al Sharpton, left, and Caroline Kennedy have lunch at famed soul food restaurant Sylvia’s in Harlem, New York, Thursday Dec. 18, 2008. Sharpton was not available in January because he’ll be praying for his own shot in the Senate and commenting on the Obama presidency on TV…

Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Said “God damn America”
during church sermon. Probably not right for an
inauguration….Obama was a member of Wright’s
church and contributed money for some 20 years….
But Wright is now wrong for Obama….

Jesse Jackson is not available this January because he is having his scowl surgically removed. He also said he wanted to “cut off Obama’s balls” which didn’t help his chances….

President-elect Barack Obama lists his many
possible pastors….

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich shakes hands with Pastor Marshall Hatch of the New Mt. Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church as he arrives at his home with Pastor Ira Acree, right, of the Greater St. John Bible Church, and the Rev. Steve Jones, president of the Baptist pastor’s conference, Friday, Dec. 12, 2008, in Chicago. Most of the pastors from Illinois are busy this month and next….

Rahm says there are still some guys available for the “God Gig”….

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., pauses during his remarks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. Little Jesse said he was not available…. and really pissed off….

The Pope and all Catholic pastors declined
and said they’d be doing “ministry to
little boys”…..

This guy said he’s praying for rain…..

This guy said “this whole deal is a nightmare”….

She’s trying to pray her way out of the “the single greatest love story” fraud…. Photo: Getty Images

A performer rests during a religious carnival marking Ashura on day eight of Muslim holy month of Moharram in Sede, near of the city of Isfahan, 495 km (309 miles) south of Tehran, January 17, 2008. Ashura, a 10-day-long event commemorates the death of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Iman Hussein in battle 1,300 years ago. Most Muslim Holy Men are busy this next January. ….REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN)

President-elect Obama’s statement:

Let me start by talking about my own views. I think that it is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans. It is something that I have been consistent on and something that I intend to continue to be consistent on during my presidency. What I’ve also said is that it is important for America to come together, even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues, and I would note that a couple of years ago, I was invited to Rick Warren’s church to speak despite his awareness that I held views that were entirely contrary to his when it came to gay and lesbian rights, when it came to issues like abortion. Nevertheless I had an opportunity to speak, and that dialogue I think is part of what my campaign’s been all about, that we’re not going to agree on every single issue, but what we have to do is to be able to create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable, and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans.

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The Gettysburg address was about this short, covered a lot more ground and had more clarity…..

Illinois politics, it seems, is where corruption, nepotism and politics meet.

He was married to one of the state’s top legislators. That connection and his blue-collar reputation and charm catapaulted him into the Governor’s job. Then he figured he was “owed” more: a cabinet position, money for campaigns and maybe even money for himself and his wife.

By John E. Carey
Peace and Freedom
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That belief that I am “owed” runs deep in Illinois politics.

Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of a prominent minister and civil rights activists thought he was owed too. From the House of Representatives he had his eye on the Senate and perhaps bigger jobs and money for his wife.

I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine is common in Illinois: and it has been for years.

What makes the itch go away and then crave more is money and favors….
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“As much as politicians in Illinois have had a tradition of corruption, the people of Illinois have had a tradition of accepting it, even expecting it — and long before Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich was accused of trying to put a Senate seat up to the highest bidder,” wrote Kate Zernike of the New York Times.

“Otto Kerner, who served as governor in the 1960s, was found to have accepted bribes in the form of racetrack stock only after the track owner deducted it on her taxes as the cost of doing business.”

And there are many more examples of corruption in Illinois politics and acceptance by the Illinois voters…

In this Aug. 17, 2005, file photo Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, left, laughs with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich during Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill. Blagojevich was roused from bed and arrested Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008, after prosecutors said he was caught on wiretaps audaciously scheming to sell now President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for cash or a plum job for himself in the new administration.

Scandal-plagued Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will not resign Monday, his spokesman said Sunday, but pressure to do so continued to grow on the governor to step aside before he is impeached.

Blagojevich was arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to swap political favors for cash, including an attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Barack Obama following his November presidential election victory.

“We have heard that there is a possibility that tomorrow he will make an announcement where he will step aside,” Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

But Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero Sunday denied the governor planned to resign on Monday: “I can confirm the no resignation.”

By Peter Bohan
Reuters

Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich talks with Northern Illinois University President John Peters (not in the picture), in DeKalb, Illinois in this February 15, 2008 file photo.(Kamil Krzaczynski/Files/Reuters)

The controversy over Blagojevich has been a distraction for Obama and his team as the president-elect announced Cabinet nominations and tried to lay out plans for dealing with the recession and other crises after his January 20 inauguration.

The charges against Blagojevich come after years of investigation detailed by court-approved wiretaps.

But the governor has not been indicted and remains governor with full powers including being the only person who can name a replacement for Obama in the Senate. Through his lawyer, Blagojevich has denied doing anything wrong.

A fundraiser held by Indian-American businessmen three days before Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on corruption charges emerged Friday as a potentially key event in the federal investigation into whether he tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama‘s vacant Senate seat.

Questions are being raised about last Saturday’s event for Blagojevich because Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s brother, Jonathan, was among those attending. The Indian community has a long history of supporting the Jackson family’s political aspirations, and the congressman has been clear about his interest in succeeding Obama.

Rep. Jackson, however, flatly denied that he or his brother were involved in a scheme for Blagojevich to peddle the Senate seat in return for up to $1.5 million in political contributions.

The congressman also said neither his brother nor his father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, served as any kind of emissary for discussions with the governor.

Wednesday was Rod Blagojevich‘s 52nd birthday, but you can bet it was not a happy one. After having been charged by federal authorities with trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat that President-electBarack Obama vacated, the Illinois governor spent most of the day hidden from view inside the state office building in downtown Chicago. The few allies he had left have vanished. And anyone who might have been among the unnamed Senate candidates in the detailed charges against Blagojevich have been busy putting distance between the governor and themselves. Among those were Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., who has hired a lawyer to accompany him to a meeting with federal prosecutors on Friday…

By Steven Gray
Time Magazine

Stay away from the rats….they could be toxic….Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich leaves his home in Chicago, Illinois. President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday he is “absolutely certain” his team was not involved in any deal-making with Blagojevich and vowed to disclose a review of all contacts with his office.(AFP/Getty Images/Brian Kersey)

But it is Blagojevich who continues to be the target of public outrage. Talk-radio hosts in the state fielded calls from citizens who wondered how the governor could attempt anything so brazen amid what were clearly ongoing federal investigations into some of his activities. “It’s as if it didn’t register [with Blagojevich],” says Jay Stewart, executive director of the Illinois Better Government Association, in Chicago. “Even by our crass, low standards in Illinois, it’s stunning.” Most polls had the governor’s approval rating in the low two digits, from 16% to about 25%, but a recent survey had Blago (as the Illinois public has grown to call him, unflatteringly) at an incredible subbasement-level 4%.

Six years ago, Blagojevich, the son of a Serbian-born steelworker, seemed to have an almost inspiring rÉsumÉ. He worked as a dishwasher to pay for college. After graduating from Pepperdine University’s law school, he eventually found work as a prosecutor in Cook County, which includes Chicago, frequently handling domestic-abuse cases. He married well; his wife Patti, the daughter of influential Chicago aldermanRichard Mell…

Legally, some if not all will escape and remain free men. But the fact that can never be denied is this: Illinois is the most corrupt state or a damned good competitor, according to the FBI.

My Dad, an FBI agent himself, used to say, “Buying politicians is the gift that keeps on giving.”

“If it is not the most corrupt state in the United States, it’s certainly one hell of a competitor,” said FBI Special Agent Robert Grant during a news conference announcing the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

This means Rod Blagojevich, Barack Obama and Jesse Jackson all come from the same gene pool. The same Illinois and Chicago cesspool of corruption spawned the careers of all three men. Each has a vast web of friends and helpers within this gene pool.

In this June 20, 2005 file photo, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, D-Ill., speaks as Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., listens during a news conference in St. Louis. Federal authorities arrested Blagojevich Tuesday Dec. 9, 2008 on charges that he brazenly conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama to the
highest bidder. (AP Photo/James A. Finley)
.Rod Blagojevich, Barack Obama and Jesse Jackson were all elected by the same voters: many of whom were duped and tricked and cheated by a long running system of corruption, bribes, influence peddling, quid pro quo and media manipulation.

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., pauses during his remarks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. Jackson, a 7-term House member and son of a famous civil rights leader, said he is not a target of the federal investigation that led to this week’s arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, that he eagerly and openly sought the Senate appointment, but was not involved ‘whatsoever in any wrongdoing.’ (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Sounds like parts of Beijing to me.

The Illinois voters, therefore, are not to blame. Unless they participated in the wrongdoing they were mostly taken for a ride. Taken advantage of.

So now we know: the man to be elected President of the United States won his Senate seat by springboarding from one of the most corrupt political systems in the nation. And the U.S. Senate seat he’ll vacate to become President of the United States went up for sale even before the leather chair was cold.

This doesn’t mean Rod Blagojevich, Barack Obama and Jesse Jackson are guilty of anything — other than growing up in the same fish tank and swimming with the dirtiest mutated sharks.

But it does mean that they have friends and aquaintences who are some of those mutated sharks — and that gives opportunity for wrongdoing in the White House, at the top of the State of Illinois, in the House of Representatives and perhaps, in the U.S. Senate.

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Is this what we want?
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In this Aug. 17, 2005, file photo Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, left, laughs with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich during Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill. Blagojevich was roused from bed and arrested Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008, after prosecutors said he was caught on wiretaps audaciously scheming to sell now President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for cash or a plum job for himself in the new administration(AP Photo/Randy Squires, File)
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What is Happening In Illinois?

By Eamon Javers and Fred Barbash
Politico
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A visibly disgusted FBI special agent Robert Grant stood at a podium in Chicago during a press conference Tuesday announcing the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich and hurling his contempt at the entire political culture of the state of Illinois.

“If it is not the most corrupt state in the United States, it’s certainly one hell of a competitor,” Grant said, his disheveled shock of black hair giving some indication of the dramatic and stressful events of the day.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald termed the events leading up to the governor’s early-morning arrest by the FBI, “a corruption crime spree,” and said it was “an appalling statement about what’s been happening in Illinois government.”

So just what is the problem with Illinois?

It certainly seems like Illinois has a particular sweet spot for corruption: Blagojevich’s own predecessor as governor, George Ryan, went to jail in 2007 in a 6-1/2 year sentence for corruption of his own.

And two other Illinois governors have faced legal trouble in modern times: Otto Kerner, who was mocked locally as “Blotto Otto,” and Dan Walker, who was charged in a savings and loan scheme involving fraudulent loans for repairs on his yacht, which was called The Governor’s Lady.

Fitzgerald, who is known as a crusading prosecutor for his role in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case, seemed to throw up his hands in despair, saying: “We’re not going to end corruption in Illinois by arrests and indictments alone.” He stressed that rooting out corruption would depend on the willingness of the people of Illinois to solve the problem.

In that, Fitzgerald may be on to something. It turns out that a state’s culture is at least as important to its degree of corruption as the aggressiveness of its law enforcement officers.

And it’s also true that some states are just plain more corrupt than others.

In an early attempt to explain why that is, the late Temple University political science professor Daniel J. Elazar argued in the 1960s that the United States can be divided in to three general political cultures, moralistic, traditional and individualistic.